


A Teeny Little Problem Called Love

by Loverboy_Lance



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Is Trying, Keith (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) has a Crush, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lotor (Voltron) Being an Asshole, Lotor (Voltron) is a bitch, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Has a Clone, Space Whales, broganes, cosmo is a sweetie, except I kinda do make the rules this is my fic, honestly it's been a while idk how to tag anymore, in this house we hate lotor, kosmo is cosmo now I don't make the rules, lance on the space whale instead of krolia, oh well, pidge and hunk bet on when klance would happen but not when they'd get engaged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:49:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26716303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loverboy_Lance/pseuds/Loverboy_Lance
Summary: Lance is sad that Keith left for the Blade of Marmora. He's managing things until he finds out Keith has gone missing, which causes him to get pissed off and go looking for him. After finding out his last known coordinates were at the edge of an asteroid field, Lance realizes he's the only one with a lion nimble enough to get through. He has to go looking, he has to know what happened.Basically, this is my take on what would happen if Lance was on the space whale with Keith instead of Krolia.
Relationships: Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk & Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith & Keith's Wolf & Lance (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron), Voltron Paladins & Voltron Paladins
Comments: 2
Kudos: 94





	A Teeny Little Problem Called Love

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I know it's been a while. Whoops. Currently, I'm also working on a date scene for my continuous fic, but I've been dealing with school, mental illness, and writers' block so I went of the charts for a while. Maybe I'll start writing more regularly, maybe I won't, who knows! What I do know is that feedback is always appreciated and if you know me irl please pressure me into writing more I really need it. Enjoy!

It had been too long, far too long.

Keith had been gone for months, which was too long in my opinion. If I had just gone with him, maybe if I just didn’t push him away… there was no point in dwelling on ‘if’s and ‘but’s, the only thing I could do was wait.

I didn’t _say_ anything about my little issue of missing Keith. Everyone thought I hated him, Lance and Keith, neck and neck. Fighting, screaming, insults and fire, but I didn’t want that. All I ever wanted was for Keith to notice me, it didn’t matter how. So I fought him to make him acknowledge me.

If you had told me he’d fight back then maybe I wouldn’t’ve started the whole thing. I didn’t want to be his rival, never, I wanted to be his friend. The thing is, if that’s what it took to be noticed by him I was all too willing to be his rival instead.

No one ever took me seriously, least of all Keith, so if I was to admit I wanted to be his friend then it would be laughed off. ‘Look at Lance,’ they’d say, ‘trying to be nice. A negotiator. That’s a good thing to have, yeah, but you don’t _really_ like him, do you?’

I just wanted Keith back. I’d confront him, I’d tell him I wanted to be his friend even though that still didn’t feel _right_. If friends wasn’t right but rivals also wasn’t right either then what was? Acquaintances? Teammates? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think it was any of them.

If I was being entirely fair with myself I absolutely had some sort of attraction wrapped up in Keith, which might be messing with the labels. Come on, a guy can appreciate another guy’s abs in peace! It wasn’t my fault that Keith was absolutely ripped to the point where he probably wouldn’t even have to try if he wanted to tackle me to the ground during a fight.

… Well, that was a nice visual. Huh.

Anyways, all that training with the Blades probably only made him look better. The only way to find out was if he came back, which he _wasn’t doing_. It was pissing me off. I could only play off the fact that I wanted to go back to arguing for so long before someone noticed that wasn’t entirely the case.

See, Hunk had already kinda caught on. He approached me after he saw me training close to midnight (castle time, there wasn’t really such a thing in the middle of space so we made do). It was an awkward conversation to say the least.

“Hey Lance,” Hunk had led with. Not that bad, but usually it was ‘buddy’, not ‘Lance’, so I’ll admit I was a little concerned.

“Hey Hunk!” I said, waving to him before slashing another drone out of the air. I was trying to train with my sword, not necessarily to beat Keith but more to have another way to fight if I needed it.

“You’re up late.”

“Am I?” I played dumb instinctively and I could tell Hunk didn’t buy it for a second. “Huh, guess you’re right. I lost track of time.”

“Sure.”

“So Hunk, my main man, what’s up?” I ended the simulation, finally turning around to really talk to Hunk.

“Oh nothing much, just you working yourself halfway to death thanks to boredom.” Hunk shrugged. “Nothing new there, at least since Keith left.”

I felt the blood drain from my face but I laughed it off. “Yeah, just bored!” My voice jumped an octave or so, making me way less convincing. “Can’t wait for Keith to get back so I can tease him into next year, he’d never see that coming.”

“Sure you don’t just, I dunno, miss having him around?” Hunk quirked an eyebrow. “Because I’ve seen you miss people before and this is spot-on Lance behavior for that.”

I cursed under my breath, running a nervous hand through my hair. “Yeah, well, I can’t really fight any of you guys. You aren’t Keith.”

“You’re right, we aren’t.” Hunk sighed. “I hope for all of our sakes that he gets back soon, if only to put you out of your misery.”

“What exactly do you mean?”

Hunk waved it off and I frowned. “Just go sleep, you look like you need it.”

All I could do was nod as Hunk walked away.

Goddamnit, he knew. Of _course_ he knew, he was Hunk. Hunk was magic or something, _honestly_.

\-----

Keith still wasn’t back.

“Day whatever-the-hell, definitely been at least a month.” I shrugged, talking to the camera I had set up in my room.

Vloging helped, and it wasn’t like I was going to share it so I could say whatever I wanted.

“Keith still isn’t back. I’ll admit it to a camera, I think I miss him. A lot. Okay, yeah, I definitely miss him.” I sighed. “It’s just not the _same_ , y’know? Oh, well, _you_ don’t know. You’re inanimate. Not alive. But still, not the same. I want him back.”

I frowned nervously, not really sure where I was going with this. Having a virtual diary only worked if you knew what to put in it, after all.

“I… I think I like him,” I whispered. “Like, I know I like girls. They’re pretty. I know I like guys, proud of it too. Still haven’t mentioned it to the team, though, but only ‘cause I don’t want to ruin the dynamic. Honestly though, do they really think I have the time to research alien species so I know the difference between guys and girls? It just makes it easier if I’m comfortable with the fact that I like both.”

I shook my head, grinning. “The only common trait that I shoot for because it’s nice is fancy hair. I like it, how you do your hair shows a lot about you. That’s exactly why I don’t know why I like Keith, at all. His hair shows that he’s _not_ fancy, _not_ taking care of himself, _doesn’t_ care how he looks, basically the opposite of everything I’ve ever gone for.”

My hands clutched at the sheets on my bed, which was where I was filming. “Ah, who am I kidding? Keith’s gorgeous. He’s got muscles everywhere, abs that could be easily called an 8-pack, I mean it’s ridiculous. His _muscles_ have muscles. He’s _unreal_.”

I opened my mouth to keep going on and on to my camera about Keith but was stopped by a knock at the door.

“Well, guess I’m ending _that_ , whatever that was,” I said with a laugh. “Maybe it helped, I guess we’ll find out.”

I clicked the camera off, letting it fall in the sheets as I opened the door.

“Pidge?”

“Yeah, uh, Lance.” Pidge was smiling, but the smile was unsteady. “I think you’re gonna want to hear this.”

I just nodded, following Pidge as I wondered what was so important.

\-----

“Keith has gone missing,” Kolivan said with a sigh. “He can handle himself and is very capable but we do not know where he is.”

I wanted to scream. Just as I had admitted to myself that I had a crush on Keith he went missing entirely. Typical.

“He went missing how long ago exactly?” Shiro asked.

Kolivan grimaced. “A week ago at least. We sent him on a mission and he was supposed to be back by then.”

“Then why didn’t you tell us?” I yelled. “He’s been missing for a week and you didn’t let us know? What the hell!”

“We give a week of buffer time before reporting missing cases in the Blade of Marmora,” Kolivan explained. “Sometimes missions are harder than expected and take extra time to complete. That’s why we waited a week.”

“Then we should go looking for him now,” I said. “He’s out there, I know he is, he _has_ to be! We’ll find him and everything will be okay, so we’ve got to go look!”

Pidge and Hunk exchanged a look and Pidge sighed, slipping Hunk some money. I’d have to ask about that later.

“We will think about the best course of action and let you know, paladins,” Kolivan said, much to my frustration. “If we go looking for Keith we will let you know, but he should not receive any special treatment. He is more than capable of survival, after all.”

“I don’t care,” I said. “We’re going after him. Or, at the very least, _I’m_ going after him.”

I stormed out of the room, not wanting to hear a lecture from Shiro or any jokes the others might make. Without a real direction to go in I just wandered, ending up in front of Red. It was like fate, I guess, pushing me in the right direction.

I hopped up into Red, sliding into the pilot seat.

“Alright girl, we’re gonna go find Keith,” I said. “He’s out there, I know it. We’ve gotta go find him.”

I could feel Red agreeing in my head, but just as I was about to leave Pidge and Hunk ran into the hangar. Hunk was waving frantically so I sighed and got out of Red.

“Lance!” Pidge said with enough force in their voice that I froze in my tracks immediately. “Just _where_ do you think you’re going?”

“To find Keith?” I said, though it came out with an unspoken ‘duh’.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Hunk demanded.

“Uh, no?”

“Us, Lance, you forgot us,” Pidge said, less mad now and more exasperated.

“Oh, I didn’t think you guys would want to come.”

“You didn’t _ask_ ,” Shiro pointed out, walking in the room with Allura. “We want to help too, you know.”

“Right, yeah, sorry.” I sighed. “I guess I just got caught up in the moment, especially with Kolivan saying not to interfere.”

“We got Keith’s last known coordinates,” Pidge said.

“Wait, really?”

“Yup! So we’re gonna find him!”

I smiled at my teammates, glad that I had their help. I honestly hadn’t known where I’d go, I’d just _go_. Having coordinates and a team at my side was a lot better.

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” I said. “Let’s go get Keith back.”

\-----

When we got to the coordinates the only thing in sight was an asteroid field. Keith was a good pilot so he had probably tried to go through it to get wherever he was going. Honestly I still didn’t know where he was going, Kolivan hadn’t said.

What we did know was that Red was probably the only lion agile and fast enough to make it through the asteroid field unscathed, and I was willing to take the chance. There was a big group hug and lengthy goodbye but I was soon on Red, flying out to the edge of the field.

“Well guys, I should be back soon with Keith in tow,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”

With that I shut off communication with the castleship and entered the field.

It was hard work, steering through it. The asteroids weren’t small and they weren’t slow, either. I was glad I was the only one out here, none of the others would’ve made it through.

I wasn’t exactly sure when I’d make it through, though, because the field seemed endless. There was some sort of pulsing light inside of it that I was aiming for because it might be towards the end, but I really couldn’t tell.

After flying through the field for a little while the pulses started getting closer to Red, which was dangerous. There didn’t seem to be any way to dodge them so I hoped that if I timed it right I could slip behind asteroids as they passed and I went deeper into the field.

Soon I saw a crashed Blade ship on an asteroid and my heart nearly stopped. I immediately flew down to check on it and the windshield was shattered, seemingly from the inside since there was no glass on the inside. That was good, it meant Keith got out.

Keith being outside of the ship helped me find him even less, though. Things only got worse from there.

The next pulse began and I hid behind an asteroid since I was now officially within its range. The thing is, it apparently went _through_ the asteroids because Red’s controls started malfunctioning and I was sent into some sort of vision.

I saw Pidge at the Garrison, studying something. I watched carefully as a younger version of myself walked up and started chatting with her. I remembered this now: this was the day I met Pidge. Interesting, I guess the pulses showed you memories?

When the memory faded Red had powered almost completely down. I checked with her in my head and it seemed like the pulse had sapped her quintessence but not mine. That was strange, but I would make do.

I climbed out of Red, who was now nearly useless here.

“Go,” I told her. “Get back to the team and tell them not to wait for me, I’ll find them when I get out with Keith. I don’t want to lose you here, they need you.”

Red agreed, though it wasn’t without remorse, and left as fast as she could in this state. I sighed. There went my ride.

Now my only chance to find Keith would be by foot, practically. I had to jet from asteroid to asteroid, searching each one I came across and holding on during the pulses. I figured out pretty early on that they threw you back if you weren’t holding on to something, and they seemed to only be showing visions from my Garrison days for whatever reason.

After a bit of asteroid hopping I saw something that really stuck out. And by really stuck out I meant a giant fucking space whale drifiting through the asteroids. It looked like it had a forest on its back, and it was noticeable enough that it might be where Keith went. Keith was smart, he’d definitely find somewhere to survive in this mess.

So, with no other choices really left, I flew to the space whale.

\-----

There was definitely a forest on the space whale’s back, complete with animals and water. Most importantly to me, it had an atmosphere.

Despite how weird it was I was glad to be able to take off my helmet, which was only really good for the communicator that was now malfunctioning thanks to the pulses. Basically I was stranded alone on a giant space whale forest thing with no way to contact help. So life was great.

I wandered around a bit before something caught my eye. Oh that was _definitely_ a footprint, no denying that. Strangely enough it didn’t seem to be an animal or alien footprint, it looked almost human. Then it registered: _Keith_.

Breaking into a run and following the footprint trail I pulled out my bayard just in case of an animal attacking. None did and soon I was at a cave that had the remains of a fire pit and some leaves in the back that seemed to serve as a bed. I had found Keith, finally.

I decided it would be best to wait for him instead of tracking more footprints to find wherever he had gone, so I sat and remade the fire. It wasn’t a hard task but I figured it would probably be nice to come back to a lit fire being tended to by one of your former teammates. Left a lot more time for explaining if Keith wasn’t getting firewood.

I relaxed by the fire until I heard footsteps, which was when I pulled out my bayard in the form of a sword.

“Keith?” I called, hoping and praying that it was him.

“Who is it?”

Keith walked into the cave, Blade suit torn and sword drawn, a menacing scowl on his face. He looked _gorgeous_. Well, he’d probably look more gorgeous without the mud that I now saw was covering him, but it’s the thought that counts.

“Oh my God, Keith! You’re really here!” I jumped up and ran over to him, stopping when I came within range of his sword. “I’m so happy to see you, you don’t even _know_ , I’ve missed you so much Keith oh my _God_ -”

“You’re not Lance,” Keith said. “This is too good to be true. You can’t be him, it’s not possible.”

“Keith, buddy, what do you mean? It’s me, in the flesh, the one and only Lance! I’m a little hurt you don’t recognize me.”

Keith sighed. “I do recognize you, idiot. You just can’t be him because even he’s not dumb enough to follow me into the Quantum Abyss with no way out.”

“The who-what-now?” I asked, and Keith gaped.

“You really are that dumb,” Keith whispered, dumbfounded. “Legitimately. I’m kinda shocked, I’ll admit it.”

“Seriously Keith, what’s going on?”

“I had a mission and got stuck here. It’s been a month already from what I can tell, but time seems to be really weird here.”

“Keith, it hasn’t been a month,” I said. “It’s been a week, two at most.”

“What?” Keith shook his head. “No, I think I’d know if it was a week. It’s been a month for sure.”

“Kolivan told us it was a week.”

“Then he was wrong!” Keith yelled, finally sheithing his knife-sword. “He’s not the one stuck here!”

“Well, uh, we can leave now, can’t we?” I asked. “I can prove it’s been a week.”

Keith shook his head again. “No, we can’t. My ship crashed and you don’t look like you have a lion, and there’s no way we’re making it out of here alive without something to ride in.”

“We’ll find a way, I didn’t come all this way for nothing,” I insisted. “I promised the others I wouldn’t be long, that I’d be back with you soon. I can’t be stuck here, there _has_ to be a way out.”

“I don’t know if you noticed, but it took a while to get where we are, _with_ a ship,” Keith pointed out. “We aren’t making it out of this one, not yet at least.”

I sighed. “Guess we’re stuck together then.”

“You say it like it’s a bad thing.”

“It isn’t!”

It was, though. I was stuck on a space whale for the foreseeable future with only my crush as company. Sure, what could go wrong?

\-----

It turns out a lot of things could go wrong.

Keith didn’t talk much and enjoyed silence, but I liked talking a lot and hated silences because I wasn’t used to them. It was a weird arrangement for sure, but even Keith got bored. That prompted me to start asking him questions.

“So, Keith?” He grunted in response so I kept going. “Do you only speak English or is there another language you can speak?”

Keith grinned. “If Texan is a language then yeah, but other than that no, I don’t.”

“So you _do_ have a sense of humor!” I said with a laugh.

“No, really, you should hear some of the people from those small Texas towns,” Keith insisted. “They have, like, a whole new language down there.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” We sat in silence for a moment before Keith broke it. “What about you?”

“Yeah, I’m bilingual. Spanish.”

“That’s pretty neat,” Keith said. “I’ve always wanted to learn another language.”

“Spanish is really fun!” I said. “Best to start with the curse words, I don’t care what teachers say because I think it’s more fun.”

Keith snorted. “You would say that. Could you teach me some Spanish then, Lance?”

My eyes bugged. Keith, Mr Perfect, was asking _me_ to teach _him_ something? Well, who was I to deny that?

“Sure!”

“Well, whenever you’re ready I guess I can try to just… repeat it back to you?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

\-----

“Day number fifty-seven on the space whale,” I said to a clump of leaves. I was kind of lost without my camera to talk to and Keith could only stand so much so I had made a habit of sneaking out to the forest when I had free time.

“Keith has become unbearable! And by that, I mean unbearably _hot_ because _mi dios_ this is not fair! His hair is still shaggy but he has agreed to a haircut… at least, he agreed to one once I could find scissors. Until then, he has just cut his hair with his knife like a barbarian. I just haven’t touched mine because I would rather it grow out messy than have to give myself a buzz cut to salvage it.”

I sighed, reaching for my long-discarded helmet that I always brought with me on these little escapades. It reminded me of home, or rather the castle ship, so I kept it close.

“If I ever get back to the castle ship I swear I’m asking Pidge to install a video camera on this helmet so that I never have to fake-vlog again. Ever. Speaking of the castle ship, Keith thinks we can get back eventually. He’s holding out hope that other people have crashed, though, so it could be a while.”

My head dropped to my hands as I let out a quiet sob. “My mama won’t even know I died out on the back of a space whale! We’re in the middle of nowhere, how could I ever talk to her again? What if I can’t? What if I die without one last ‘I love you mama’?”

I paused as I heard a rustle in the bush behind me. Activating my bayard I stood on shaking legs and turned to face whatever was interrupting me.

“Hey, hey, it’s just me, _mi amigo_ ,” Keith said, Spanish still a little slow and unsure.

“Oh thank god, I thought you were some demon coming to interrupt my ritual of talking to myself.”

Keith chuckled with a grin. “Nah, much better. Besides, Lance, I found something today. You’re gonna wanna see this!”

“What’d you find?” I asked as I followed Keith.

“It’s a surprise. Close your eyes, I’ll lead you.”

Before getting stuck here for over a month Keith would’ve never asked me to trust him like this. Now, though, he knew I trusted him. I closed my eyes as he took my hand in his, guiding me through the forest we were calling our home.

“Okay, open your eyes.”

I opened my eyes and I had to pinch myself to be sure it wasn’t a dream.

“Keith, oh my- _mi dios_ , holy shit! You found a lake worthy of swimming in!”

Keith’s smile could light up the whole goddamn universe with how bright it was at my excitement. There was a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks but I didn’t dare get my hopes up as this forest was pretty warm.

“Yeah, I’ve been looking for something like this. I thought you’d like it, maybe thought it’d make you feel better about being stuck here.”

“This is beautiful, of course I like it! Dude, I _more_ than like it! This is amazing!”

I was suddenly very, very glad that we had learned how to wash our clothes so I could alternate between the paladin under-armor and our normal clothes that we had both stashed in our ships. It was always a good thing to have extra clothes just in case but now it was a must.

Despite what the team may think I would absolutely never go skinny dipping unless there was some extreme circumstance. So, because of this and the fact that I was in my normal clothes today, I stripped down to my boxers and jumped straight in the lake.

“Lance!” Keith yelled. I turned and saw his face was bright red. “Give a little warning before you just… strip like that, geeze!”

“Oops.” I shrugged. “So, you coming in or not?”

Keith sighed, though I could see he was smiling under his bangs. “I guess I will.”

“Cool. I’ll just wait for you in the middle, we should play some games or something! My little siblings made some games up, and so did my older ones! Hell, I made some up myself from time to time. You have to do that sort of thing when your main source of entertainment is the ocean, after all.”

Since this was a normal-clothes day for both of us Keith also stripped down to his boxers before slowly wading into the lake.

When he got to the middle of the lake I immediately splashed him with water and he grinned.

“Oh it is _on_ , Lance!”

“Come at me then, Samurai!” I said, splashing him again before swimming away. “They don’t call me Sharpshooter for nothing!”

Keith started laughing and he followed me through the water, trying and failing to splash me back. We were running through the water as fast as we could once we reached shallower waters when Keith suddenly fell with a yelp.

“Keith? Buddy?”

It then occurred to me that Keith probably hadn’t checked the lake for possible life forms with the surprise that was in his voice and I immediately dove underwater after him.

I was able to catch up to where he had gone pretty quickly and saw that there was some sort of vine wrapping itself around his ankle. I grabbed the knife that Keith always kept on his belt and cut the vine in multiple places to be sure it would let Keith go. Then I pulled Keith from the water with all the strength I could muster since he had gone limp.

Once he was out of the water I realized a few minutes had gone by and Keith probably wasn’t as good at holding his breath as I was so he had passed out. Thinking back to the training I did to be a lifeguard before I got accepted into the Garrison, I started CPR.

Soon Keith was up and heaving water out of his lungs. I checked his ankle for injuries while he got the water out from his body.

“Guess we shouldn’t swim there anymore, huh?” I joked as I picked up his ankle to check the underside.

“Yeah,” Keith agreed with one last cough.

I set his leg back down once I was sure there were no visible injuries and Keith smiled gently at me.

“Thanks for saving my life, Sharpshooter,” he said.

I held Keith’s gaze with a smile. “Anything for you, Samurai.”

\-----

“Keith holy _shit_ you’ll never guess what I found!” I yelled, running back to our cave.

“What is it?”

“It’s a fucking WOLF! In SPACE! And it TELEPORTS!”

The wolf teleported onto Keith, successfully knocking him over as he laughed.

“Lance, oh my god, Lance!” Keith was practically getting mauled by the wolf at this point. “This is the best thing we’ve found here!”

I smiled down at him, winking. “Personally I think my best find in this void was you, but I didn’t fly all the way out here just for you to like me more for it.”

Keith looked up at me and I could see the faint light of stars reflected in his eyes. “Lance, I can’t call you the best find because you found me and not the other way around. Of course you’d be, but this wolf is the only thing that was found other than me. Not to mention that you found both of them, why are you finding all the cool shit anyways?”

I shrugged, feeling my face flush as I did so. “Maybe I’m just really good at finding things. Mama didn’t raise no quitter, so sometimes all you gotta do is keep looking!”

Keith rolled his eyes and focused his attention back on the wolf.

“So what are we gonna name it?” I asked.

“Him,” Keith said.

“Huh?”

“The wolf. Not an ‘it’, him.”

“Ah, got it. How’d you know that again?”

Keith shrugged. “Galra stuff? I don’t know, I just got vibes.”

“Great. We’re gonna name our pet based on your vibes, then?”

“Well we can just pick something gender neutral if you’d prefer?”

“Sounds good to me. So we _are_ keeping him, right?”

“Well duh, he already loves me!”

Keith wasn’t wrong; the wolf was perched on his lap, licking at his face. Keith ruffled his fur a little with a laugh. I wish my electronics were working so I could take a picture to look at forever. It was the simple things in life, really. If nothing else good came out of this whole fiasco at least we got an adventure on a cosmic space whale and found a teleporting wolf! Wait, cosmic… something along those lines would probably be a good name.

“How about Cosmonaut?” I suggested. “It’s the Russian word for astronaut and I think it just sounds cooler.”

Keith tilted his head. “That could work. We probably want something shorter though, like a nickname? Just in case we get into trouble and need to call him?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I admitted.

We both sat in silence thinking while Cosmonaut continued to lick Keith. Keith broke the silence first.

“How about Cosmo? It’s short.”

“I like it!” I smiled, walking over and sitting beside Cosmo and Keith. “Cute, too.”

“If we were back on Earth I’d make him a bitchin collar,” Keith said, ruffling Cosmo’s fur again. “Shaped like a knife with Cosmo on the outside and stars inlaid around it, and then I’d put our names on the back with an address or phone number.”

“What is it with you and knives, man?”

Keith grinned. “I guess it runs in my family since my favorite one is from my mom.”

“Woah, really? It’s seriously from your mom?” Keith nodded. “No fucking way! You come from a really knifey family!”

“We aren’t called the Blades for nothing,” Keith said with a snort. “Everyone has a knife-sword there.”

“Okay well now I kinda wanna join the Blades for a knife-sword,” I said.

“I wouldn’t say no but I’m sure the rest of Voltron would kill me for taking you away.”

I shook my head. “They don’t care that much, they could probably find a replacement for the red lion’s paladin anyways.”

Keith shot up so fast that Cosmo had to teleport off his lap to avoid being flung off. One of his hands landed on my shoulder and he shook me slightly.

“Lance, don’t say that.”

“What? It’s true!” I sighed. “Allura’s tired of me, Pidge and Hunk are always off galavanting on their own, Coran is always busy, the space mice follow Allura everywhere, you’ve been gone and Shiro, well where do I begin with him, but recently he yelled at me-”

“He what,” Keith whispered. “He… he yelled at you? Shiro would never, not after- not after all of the things we talked about…”

I quirked an eyebrow. “What did you talk about that makes you so sure?”

“Lance…” Keith was frowning now and honestly I’d do anything to make that stop but I needed to know what this was about.

“Keith, seriously buddy, maybe once we get back you can knock some sense into him but it couldn’t’ve been that important if he was yelling at me and ignoring me?”

Keith shook his head. “No, Shiro would never forget. He’s my brother, Lance, he cares about me more than I care about myself. He’d never do that.”

“What does that even have to do with me, anyways? I’d get you being upset about him getting mad at you but I’m just another member of the team! Shiro shouldn’t treat me any differently just because-”

“Because what, Lance?” Keith exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Because you’d rather him yell at you and take you down than him accept he can be wrong sometimes? Because you’d rather take the blame than another one of the Paladins? You’re human, Lance, there’s only so much you can take!”

“And what do you know about my limits, Golden Boy?” I shouted back. “You’re always the best, always the top pilot, always the secret super cool alien with a mom in a secret rebellion! You get everything I ever wanted, even though you don’t want it all! I tried everything, I trained for hours, Keith, _hours_ to get on the fighter pilot list, even if I was the lowest one on there! I only got in because you dropped out, did you know that? Did you know that to everyone in the universe except for you I’m just you but worse? I’m just you, Keith, I’m _just like you_ in all sorts of ways and the main difference is that I’m not good enough to be you.”

By the time I stopped yelling tears were streaming down my face and Keith looked on the verge of tears himself. He shook his head and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Lance, the only reason they see you like that is because they didn’t take the time to know you. You’re so much more than a copy of me, really I think you’re better than me in so many ways.” Keith pulled back and wiped a few of the tears off of my face. “You’re so special, Lance. You came out here looking for me and didn’t stop when your lion broke or your suit got damaged. You always look for the best in everyone, even if there isn’t anything there. You’re the friend that holds us all together, which is more important than you could ever know. I’m not all that good with words but honestly, none of us would be here without you, Lance. I know I sure as hell wouldn’t be here without you, and I don’t mean literally.”

I looked at Keith, who was also crying now. I gave him a shaky smile and he smiled back.

“Keith, I wouldn’t be here without you either. Literally.”

“Way to ruin the moment, dumbass,” Keith said, laughing. “But in all seriousness, Lance, I need to tell you something.”

I felt my brows furrow as I contemplated what it could be. Did he mean he liked me too? No, he couldn’t… but maybe after all of that?

“Lance, if it weren’t for you I’d be dead. So many times over. I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you for being here, and you’re so much more than that cargo pilot from the Garrison. You’re _Lance_. You’re not impulsive like me, which is good because I sure as hell don’t want you to be ready to ram yourself suicidally into a particle barrier like I almost did that one-”

“You _what_?” I screeched. “Keith, _amor_ , tell me you didn’t, please!”

Keith’s entire face went red and I was about to ask why when my words came back to me. I had done it again, I’d spoken without thinking first. _Mierda_ , this was going to be so much more awkward from now on…

“Before we address the wording you used,” Keith said, “I just wanna say that yes, I did do that. Please don’t freak out because hey, at least I’m alive now! I didn’t die that time!”

I shook my head. “No, Keith, I can’t not freak out. That’s horrible, you do know that people need you just as much as you need them, right?”

Keith looked away from me and his fingers started scratching at the cave floor. He looked like he wanted the whale to swallow him whole.

“Keith, please tell me that someone’s told you that before?”

“No one has,” Keith whispered.

I tipped his chin towards me gently, taking his hand from the cave floor and holding it in my own.

“I know I’m more than a little biased here, but you matter.” My hand slid from his chin to his cheek. “Keith, you matter to me a lot. I know you need me, but I need you too, okay? We need each other and that’s okay. It’s okay to need someone and it’s okay to be needed by someone. The important thing is that you realize that I need you a lot so you don’t throw your life away. That would ruin me, understand?”

Keith was looking at me with still watery eyes, and he nodded slowly. I smiled, still unsure of what our relationship really was but knowing now that rivalry was far from the right term.

“If nothing else good comes out of this, at least I got you and Cosmo,” Keith whispered.

I pulled him in for a hug. “Keith, buddy, you’ve _always_ had me, whether you and I knew it or not. You don’t know how badly I missed you when you ran away with the Blades, and Hunk was starting to get frustrated with how… far away, I guess is the right word for it, I was acting.”

“You care that much?”

“I don’t just call everyone ‘ _amor_ ’, you know.”

“You really do like me,” Keith breathed. “I mean, I guessed, but I thought I was just being hopeful…”

“Hopeful?” I asked. I didn’t dare get my hopes up too much, but Keith was making it sound like he reciprocated.

“Yes, hopeful,” Keith said. “Lance, I like you a lot too. I… I love you, Lance.”

My heart stopped in my chest and I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Damn, Keith really knew how to make me die over and over and over. At least things wouldn’t be awkward between us if he felt the same way.

“Keith, _amor_ , baby, sweetheart,” I said, throwing out every pet name I knew. “Honey, please tell me that you’re able to handle all that is Lance before you get my hopes up too high.”

Keith laughed with a genuine smile and I could feel the mood of the conversation shift. “Of course I can, Lance. Through thick and thin, rich and poor, I’ll at the very least try and handle you.”

“Shit, babe, those sounded more like marriage vows than any response I was expecting.” Keith’s entire face went red and his eyes went wide. I smiled softly and looked him in the eyes. “Not that I’d complain if you wanted to get married, but we aren’t even officially dating so I’d say you’d be taking things a little too fast.”

“I just wanted to say you mean a lot to me and I’d be willing to try anything for you,” Keith whispered. “Marriage now is a little too fast, even if it is technically impossible anyways.”

I nodded. “I’ll have you know that if we’re stuck here for too long though we’re getting married. You can’t stop me. I’ll make you a ring out of some tree bark.”

“Who’ll officiate?” Keith asked with a chuckle.

“Cosmo!” I said, like that was the most obvious answer in the universe.

We both dissolved into a fit of laughter and I decided that maybe living on this space whale for a little longer might not be so bad.

\-----

Two years on the space whale with memories we weren’t always prepared for or prepared to share and we were finally to the center of the quantum abyss. We didn’t really expect to find anything there but I knew I was mostly hoping for a good pair of scissors so I could finally cut my hair again.

Instead, there was something like a ball with a door. We went through the door and all of the sudden there was bright light, brighter than any we’d seen in years. I gripped Keith’s hand tightly and I could feel him squeezing back.

When our eyes adjusted and we stepped further through the door I gasped. There were plants everywhere, and not just the kind from the space whale. It looked like an actual planet, but it was hidden at the center of the quantum abyss.

I heard humming and I dragged Keith behind a tree to stay a bit hidden. He put a finger to his lips and activated his knife-sword, peeking around the tree. Keith pulled back and I tapped his wrist, silently asking what he saw.

“ _G-I-R-L-?_ ” is what he drew on my wrist in response. I frowned and mouthed “girl?” and he nodded. I reached up to his ear and whispered as quietly as I could, “What’s she doing?”

“Laundry?” Keith whispered back with a shrug as he deactivated his knife-sword.

I had to stifle a laugh as I peeked around the tree to check. Sure enough, there was a figure with long blonde pigtails doing their laundry in the river. She seemed pretty harmless but that didn’t stop me or Keith from keeping our hands on our weapons.

We stepped out from behind the tree and the girl stood up in shock.

“Who are you?” She asked, and her voice reminded me of Allura’s. That’s when I noticed: she had Altean markings. _What the hell?_

“I think the bigger question is how are you alive?” I asked before I could stop myself. “Princess Allura said all the Alteans were dead?”

“Princess?” the girl asked. “The only royalty we know of here is Lotor, who is this princess you speak of?”

My eyes bugged. There was no way…

“We’ll get to that,” Keith said gruffly, taking his hand off of his knife-sword on his belt. “First, though, what’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Romelle. Who are you two, who know so much of the outside world?”

“I’m Lance, and this is my boyfriend, Keith,” I said brightly, gesturing to Keith when I said his name. “I came looking for him but then we both got stuck.”

“Splendid!” Romelle said, clapping her hands together. “Well, I was looking for a way out of here anyways, so if you both would like I might be able to help you.”

“You would do that for us?” Keith asked, obviously shocked. “You barely know us!”

Romelle frowned. “We have similar goals, do we not? We both would like to take down Lotor if the looks on your faces when I said his name is anything to go by. We also both want to leave and I can’t very well do that on my own.”

“So how do you suggest we leave?” I asked. “You make it sound like you have a plan.”

“That I do!” she said. “Are either of you good pilots?”

Keith and I didn’t even have to think before we answered. “We both are,” we said, almost in sync.

Romelle smiled brightly and grabbed our hands. “Then it’s our lucky quintant! I happen to know the location of some old ships that nobody in the colony can fly, so we can take one of those!”

“Uh, exactly how old are these ships?” Keith asked.

“I don’t really know,” Romelle admitted. “I have seen them turn on though, so I _do_ know they’re functional.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” I said, smiling. “ _¡Vamonos! Amor_ , Romelle, we’re getting outta here!”

\-----

Keith ended up piloting the ship since we both agreed that he was better out of the two of us. It was nothing against me, we just both had different strengths.

Romelle was absolutely over the moon with flying and getting to pet Cosmo. Cosmo was currently warping around the small Altean pod, which is the kind of old ship Romelle had found.

The moment we were out of the Quantum Abyss we spotted the castleship. Keith hailed them and our hail was answered hesitantly by Allura.

“Who is this?” Allura asked. “Where did you get an Altean pod?”

“It’s me,” Keith said, presenting our video.

I waved and shouted, “Good to see you again, Princess! It’s been a while!”

She frowned. “Really it hasn’t. It’s only been a few movements.”

Keith was frowning now too. “No, it’s been two years?”

Allura looked behind her and Pidge walked up in view.

“Hey guys, nice to see Keith’s alive,” they said. “Honestly, time is a weird thing. Besides, you two _do_ look older. I wouldn’t be surprised if time warped in the asteroid field you two went in, since it did look a little abnormal.”

I grabbed at my hair with a groan. “Pidge, cut the science. What I need is scissors so I don’t look like mullet head over here anymore. Besides, he promised me I could cut his hair when we found scissors! Isn’t that great? I think I’ll give him an undercut or something!”

“No, what we really need is Lotor,” Keith cut in. “Where is he?”

“He’s with us, why do you need him?” Allura asked.

“We’ll talk about it once we board. Care to let us in?” I said.

Pidge nodded, pushed a few buttons, and then the screen cut out.

“Well, I guess it’s now or never,” I said. “Ready to kick his ass?”

Keith grinned. “Never been readier.”

\-----

When we got out of the ship Hunk rushed forwards and attacked me with a hug. He spun me around until Cosmo teleported out and landed on my back, pulling me to the ground.

Hunk let go of me in surprise and then Romelle got out of the pod. Everyone was whispering about Cosmo, but Allura was more focused on Romelle.

“How… I thought all of the Alteans were dead!” she said, cautiously walking forwards.

“I’m Romelle from the colony, Princess Allura,” Romelle said. “I think we’ll have a lot to talk about, but Keith and Lance are about to be keeping everyone busy.”

Allura opened her mouth to ask about what that meant, but before she could Keith was shoving past everyone to the door.

“You better call Lotor here this instant,” he growled and damn, that wasn’t supposed to be hot but it _really_ was.

“Why? What do you want with him?” Pidge asked.

“He’s been killing Alteans for quintessence,” I said. “We’ve got to put a stop to him.”

“That’s impossible!” Allura said. “He’s not like that, I swear!”

“Well then how did my younger brother die in my arms, wrinkled and old and weak?” Romelle yelled. “Where did all of the chosen Alteans go? Lotor is a fraud and he deserves a painful end!”

Allura had tears in her eyes when she reached for her comm. “Lotor? We’re all meeting where Keith and Lance docked, would you please join us?”

“Of course, Princess.”

Allura sighed. “Why would he do such a thing? He said he was different than the rest of the Galra, he said that our… our _union_ would be one for history, but he’s just as bad as the rest of the bad Galra in the universe.”

Before any of us could offer Allura any comfort the door opened to reveal Lotor. Keith immediately lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. Even with all of his strength, Lotor was no match for Keith. Especially not when I got up close too and held my blaster to his head.

“Explain yourself, asshole,” Keith growled. “Why in all hell would you drain Alteans just for quintessence? Isn’t there a better way to get that bullshit you Galra bastards are so intent on hoarding?”

That shouldn’t be hot, it really shouldn’t be, but Keith’s growly voice while he was threatening an asshole of a prince almost had me falling over and losing my grip on the blaster pointed at Lotor’s head.

“I did what I had to do,” Lotor pleaded. “You’re the unreasonable one, asking for me to stop sacrificing lives for the greater good in the end.”

“You _bitch_!” Allura screamed. “You killed our people for _energy_! Have you lost your quiznacking mind? You should never do anything like that! It’s unlawful, immoral, and absolutely awful! You deserve whatever horrible end Keith and Lance have so obviously devised!”

“But what about everything we shared?” Lotor whined as Keith pushed his sword closer to Lotor’s skin. “All of the ideas, all of the advice I gave you, I thought you loved me!”

“I could never love a monster like you,” Allura hissed.

“Are you two done yet?” Keith complained. “I wanna get on with the battle already.”

“Keith, you can wait a few more seconds,” I murmured. “This is better than any of the drama I’ve seen in years.”

“That’s because you spent two years with me, idiot,” Keith whispered back fondly.

“We’re through!” Allura said. “I want nothing to do with you ever again!”

“That’s your cue,” I whispered to Keith jokingly.

Keith grinned, and that’s when it all went to hell.

\-----

Lotor shimmied out from Keith’s grip and pulled a dagger from his belt. It was at Keith’s neck in an instant and I was screaming as I dropped my blaster in an attempt to tackle Lotor away from Keith.

Allura was yelling something that I didn’t register and Pidge had used their little grappling hook to take Lotor’s knife. The bad thing was that, as she took the knife, Lotor got a swipe on Keith’s neck. It was just a scratch but it was enough for me to see red.

I grabbed my bayard as it morphed into a sword and Keith reached for his Marmora knife-sword, putting it in sword form. Lotor used that opportunity to stand up and try to leave but the doors were locked, probably thanks to Hunk.

Keith and I both shoved our swords at Lotor in sync and he dove out of the way. We moved as a unit, not two separate paladins, when we dashed after him. I grabbed Keith’s hand and gave him a shove forwards that he used to propel himself into knocking Lotor over, which is a move we had practiced on the space whale.

Lotor let out a shout and scrambled away on all fours before standing up and trying to run more. The bad thing for him was that part of that move was me going forwards as well. Once Lotor got up and recovered from Keith knocking him over I was behind him and pressing a blade to his throat.

“Keith! _Mi dios_ , it worked! Come over here quick, I’ve got him held but I figured you’d want to help a bit.”

“Got it, _mi sol_!” He yelled as he ran over to where I was holding Lotor.

“So? What’d you wanna do with this asshat?” I asked.

“I figure we tie him up for now. Maybe he’s done more things that we can pry out before we kill him.”

I nodded in agreement and whispered, “ _te amo, mi amor_.”

Keith smiled and pulled Lotor into his tight grip. I pulled the rope Keith had given me on the Altean pod that he had scavenged from his Blades ship and tied Lotor’s hands together behind his back. I also made sure to get his legs tied enough that he couldn’t run away but could still walk, which is something else Keith and I had practiced just in case we ever ran into any hostile humanoids on the space whale.

Once I was sure Lotor wouldn’t be getting away, I turned back to the rest of the team. They were standing with their mouths hanging open and confused expressions on all of their faces, but with varying degrees of intensity.

Pidge broke the silence with a sigh. “Damnit, Hunk I’ll get you your money later.”

“What?” Keith asked. “We had to spend two years together, obviously we fight well!”

“It’s just that before this you guys were at each other’s throats but now… well, if I’m not mistaken Lance just said he loves you?” Hunk said.

I felt my face flush and I looked at Keith. He just nodded slowly.

“Well uh, Keith and I have been dating for about a year and a half?” I said. “I think we’re also kinda engaged, aren’t we babe?”

Keith grinned. “Wait, you were serious about that? I thought you were kidding.”

“Nope, I was serious. If I have to I’ll still make you a tree-bark ring and have Cosmonaut officiate, I’m not afraid!”

“Wait, you went and got engaged without me?” Hunk whined. “Buddy, I thought we agreed I’d _always_ know first!”

“Oops?” Keith said. “Well, now you know. I guess that’s just what happens when you leave us in the Quantum Abyss for two years, we get engaged.”

Pidge let out a barking laugh and glanced at Hunk. “Too bad we didn’t bet on when they’d get engaged, I don’t think either of us would’ve won that one!”

Everybody erupted into laughter and I found myself looking at Shiro. He looked the same as he did two years ago, but something still felt… _off_ , I guess. I couldn’t place it but I knew Keith would be able to if there really was something wrong.

For now, though, I was happy with the way things had turned out. Lotor was in our custody, we had found more Alteans, Keith and I were finally back at the castleship, and I had a beautiful fiancé with an 8-pack. This was never the way I thought things would turn out but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> So that's it! If you want more let me know, and if you don't mind comments and kudos are always welcome! Thanks again for reading this and I hope you have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening/day/night!


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